Majora
Majora is the implied name of the entity which either inhabits or is Majora's Mask in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It serves as the game's main antagonist and is arguably the series' most depraved and bizarre villain (though, admittedly, almost nothing is known about it). Despite appearing as an inanimate object, and using the Skull Kid as its puppet, the mask carries obvious sentience and the ability to speak coherently, through its wearer or of its own power. The gender of Majora is disputed, as neither the game nor any supplementary material states this. History The mask was said to be used by an ancient tribe for hexing rituals, but due to the spite they poured into it, it soon became too dangerous. The tribe decided to seal it away, never to be found again. It was rediscovered by the Happy Mask Salesman who was then robbed of it by the Skull Kid. Majora takes control of the Skull Kid through the mask, manipulating him to bring the moon crashing down onto Termina, thus obliterating the entire world. At the end of the game, Majora knocks out Skull Kid when the Four Giants arrive and flees to the moon. Majora incarnates itself into a humanoid form and serves as the game's final boss. Characteristics The entity that inhabits the mask seems to be highly disturbed, insane, and childish (though, when possessing the Skull Kid, it could simply be trying to masquerade as him). After speaking for itself for the first time near the end of the game, it declares that the Skull Kid was merely its puppet, suggesting that it was in fact the mask's essense itself that craved so much misery and destruction. All of the powers it used seem to suggest or induce insanity, such as the turning of Kafei into a child mere days before his wedding, the transformation of Link into a Deku Scrub, and various other bizarre and psychopathic problems it caused. The hideous visage it gave to the moon also seems to indicate madness. Inside the moon, in a very peaceful but surreal meadow, Majora (and the other 4 masks) take on the form of children, Majora sitting alone and staring at the ground. It asks Link to play a game of "Good Guys and Bad Guys", where Link is the "Bad Guy". In combat, Majora has a tendency to laugh to itself, manically, and lets out a high-pitched, childish shriek when injured, and all of his forms have a very chaotic and unsettling appearance. Majora seems to have a strained background with the Fierce Deity. When asking to play their game of "Good Guys and Bad Guys", Majora freely offers Link the Fierce Deity's Mask so that he may become the "True Bad Guy". This, coupled with Majora's obvious sensitivity to the Deity's powers, suggests that Majora has a negative relationship with the being and wants to destroy him, or at least his incarnation. However, this was never fully elaborated upon in the game, so the nature of the two's relationship is speculatory. However, Majora's psychosis is only further evidenced by the offering of an item obviously beyond his own power level. Majora's gender is unclear. Though its shrieks of pain in battle are high-pitched, it does appear as a child before the battle. The eyes of Majora's Wrath form could be seen as somewhat reminiscent of human breasts; its muscular structure, on the other hand, appears more masculine. Battle *Majora's Mask *Majora's Incarnation *Majora's Wrath Theories Motive Majora is the only Zelda antagonist who does not seem to have clear motives. Most villains, such as Ganon or Zant wish to rule their land, but Majora seems happy with destruction. As it amplifies the wearer's dark desires, the motive for each owner may be different. However, Majora itself most likely has differing motives from the wearer, corrupting their mind and bringing about its own ends for destruction. It seems to have a very pronounced sadistic streak, not only causing destruction but causing Skull Kid to use the mask's powers to generally make the lives of Termina's inhabitants miserable. Origins There is, however, a plausible theory. Majora was a child who lived in a culture that wore special masks everyday, but the mask had to represent something. Although the 4 boss masks resemble something (fish, bull, jungle warrior, insect), Majora's Mask represented nothing. As a result of Majora's mask representing nothing, the other children refused to play with him. Everyday Majora sat by that tree, lonely, angry, and depressed, because nobody would play with him. Majora, being the eccentric one of his tribe, believed that his mask would represent something. Thus, he imbued the mask with the power to absorb the emotions of the wearer. However, since his emotions were negative for being looked down upon, the mask absorbed these feelings, but Majora could not do anything about it, since it was a tradition in his culture for children to wear their mask until adulthood. Majora's Mask, filled with these negative emotions, became a "mask of devils". Once it left its user, it began to cause chaos, but was defeated by the Fierce Deity. However, he had failed to destroy the Mask, and its negative emotions still survived inside of it. It was weakened, however, and was soon found by an ancient tribe and beause of the dark power stemming from Majora's negative emotions, was used in the tribe's hexing rituals. However, because of the dark magic it was used for, Majora's Mask fed off of this power and began to regain its strength. The tribe, fearing what would happen if it regained all of its power, sealed the Mask away, hoping that it would never again resurface. However, the ancient tribe soon died out afterwards. In time, the Happy Mask Salesman, presumably Majora, somehow discovered the Mask's powers to absorb negative emotions, and presumably wanting his mask back, went to find it, which he did. Majora's Mask, being sealed away for so long, had plenty of time to plan for its actions. First, it sensed a being who had much of the same emotions that its old owner did (this being that it sensed was the Skull Kid), and reached out to it. The Skull Kid, drawn by the Mask's power, ambushed the Happy Mask Salesman, and stole Majora's Mask. The Skull Kid then put the Mask on, and since the Mask had so many similar emotions to the Skull Kid, it began to take over him. Majora's Mask was still quite weak in power, and had very little control over the Skull Kid, but it fed off of the emotions of the Skull Kid's and since these emotions matched the emotions of Majora's Mask, it grew much stronger, until it had total control over the Skull Kid. Now powerful enough, the Mask was able to put its plan into action. It sealed up the Four Giants, and, using the masks of the children who refused to play with Majora, created guardians to keep the Giants locked up. Majora's Mask then proceeded to pull the Moon out of orbit, and then waited for it to crash into Termina, killing everyone. If the Mask had been successful, it would have fed off of the death and suffering caused by the Moon crashing into Termina. It would have gained legendary power. Demon Another theory was that Majora was an insane demon was defeated by the Fierce Deity. Majora, in a last ditch effort to save its own life, sealed its own soul in a mask. The deity, realizing that majora could return and destroy Termina, fused his own powers into another mask to combat the demented demon. Majora always kept the other mask near him so he could exact his revenge when he could be able to destroy Termina. So when Link was about to fight Majora, Majora gave Link the Fierce Deity's Mask in order to destroy his old enemy and his current one at the same time. That mistake caused Majora to be killed permanently. The motive may have been that Majora wanted to be worshipped by the Terminanians but was rejected, causing his thirst of destuction for Termina. In the manga Majora played the same role in the Manga version of the game, and it displayed more of personality then it did the game. For the most part it stays with the Skull Kid, but eventually abandons him when the giants stop the moon like in the video game. However, Majora mocks the Skull Kid, calling him trash and tries to kill him just because it thought he was no-fun. Link saves the Skull Kid (having grown sympathetic to him), and Majora challenges Link to a game of "tag," and gives him the Fierce Deity's Mask. Link puts on the mask and follows Majora. In the battle, Majora first just runs around, but then attacks Link, but quickly proves no-match for Link with Fierce Deity's Mask, whom effortlessly kills Majora in one attack. Majora in the manga displayed a sinister, childish personality. It appears to like to play, but its ideas of what is fun are twisted, and it even calls Link mean when he starts to defend himself. Origins A side-story in the Majora's Mask manga reveals the origin of Majora. Majora was originally a huge dragon-like creature, who guarded an empty land that was neither moving nor dead. This dragon's armor was sought after, as it was believed that the armor could grant wishes and give power. One day, a man came to the land, and played music for Majora, who danced for three days and three nights before dying. The man then carved a mask from the creature's hide. Category:The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask characters